An RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system that transmits and receives information in a non-contact manner (coil based electromagnetic coupling type, electromagnetic induction type, or radio wave type, etc.) to and from an RFID circuit element configured to store information is known. For example, an RFID circuit element provided to a label-shaped RFID tag comprises an IC circuit part configured to store predetermined RFID tag information, and an antenna configured to transmit/receive information, connected to the IC circuit part. With such an arrangement, the reader/writer can access (read/write) the RFID tag information in the IC circuit part even if the RFID tag has become dirty or is arranged in a position where it cannot be seen. Such a technique continues to be put into practical use in a wide variety of fields such as commodity management, inspection process, and the like.
An RFID circuit element is generally formed on a label-shaped material as an RFID label, and this tag label is often affixed to a target article for classifying and organizing documents and articles, for example. At such a time, separate from the RFID tag information stored therein, information related to that RFID tag information can be printed on the label, making it possible for the user to conveniently view the related information on the label. For this reason, in the past, a tag label producing apparatus for producing an RFID label from such a perspective has been proposed.
For example, in the tag label producing apparatus described in: Patent Document 1, a tape-shaped tag medium (continuous label paper) wherein an RFID circuit element (antenna and IC chip) is disposed at a substantially equal interval in the longitudinal direction is fed out from a roll unit comprising a roll (rolled paper) around which the tag medium is wound. Subsequently, after predetermined print is printed by a printing means at a predetermined location of the tag medium, RFID tag information is transmitted and received to and from the RFID circuit element provided in the tag medium via an apparatus antenna (RFID communication antenna), thereby producing a tag label with print.
Further, in the tag label producing apparatus described in Patent Document 2, a tag medium comprising an RFID circuit element (RFID tag) is affixed to a mount with a label and, after the tag medium is fed to a predetermined position and the feeding is stopped, information is transmitted from an apparatus antenna (RFID reading/writing apparatus) to the RFID circuit element and predetermined information writing is performed. Then, feeding is immediately resumed and printing is performed by a print head on the front face of the label, thereby continually producing tag labels with print.
At this time, in the above-described tag label producing apparatus, a relatively large amount of power is consumed in the printing means wherein a thermal head, etc., is used, for example. On the other hand, the RFID circuit element normally comprises memory such as RAM or ROM, a control circuit configured to read and write data to and from this memory, a power generating means (internal power supply generation circuit) configured to supply power to the control circuit, and the like (see Patent Document 3, for example). Then, in this RFID circuit element, when information is transmitted or received, power is generated based on a reception signal received from the tag label producing apparatus by the power generating means, the power is supplied so as to start the control circuit, and data reading and writing are performed to and from the memory by the control circuit. As a result, power is also supplied to the RFID circuit element when transmission/reception of information is performed, causing a predetermined amount of power to be consumed on the tag label producing apparatus side during transmission/reception of information.    Patent Document 1: JP, A, 2003-140548    Patent Document 2: JP, A, 2001-96814    Patent Document 3 JP, A, 2000-242754